Monday, February 8, 2010

SHANGHAI — Flush with cash despite the global economic downturn, China’s sovereign wealth fund quietly snapped up more than $9 billion worth of shares last year in some of the biggest American corporations, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup.
Although most of the stakes were small, China Investment Corp., the government’s $300 billion investment fund, now owns stock in some of the best-known American brands, including Apple, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola and Visa.
The detailed list, which contained holdings totaling $9.6 billion as of Dec. 31, was disclosed Friday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; it lists stakes only in companies traded in the United States.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China and other officials have repeatedly expressed worry about how the country’s holdings of U.S. Treasury securities could be hurt by inflation or by mounting U.S. debt.

Looks like the American people are not the only ones worried about the mounting debt of our country.